Archives
There is no reason at all why a person with dementia can’t enjoy music. Sitting and listening passively will give pleasure to many, as will taking a more active role, such as joining in by humming or singing. More importantly, those who have learnt to play a musical instrument in earlier life may retain this [...]
Many people looking after an older person with dementia are themselves elderly and suffer from chronic medical conditions of one sort or another. If on top of these they also have to cope with the mental and physical demands of caring for someone with dementia, it is possible that their own illnesses may be aggravated. [...]
A whole range of state welfare benefits can be found listed in leaflets and brochures, which are available from the local social security office or very often from a post office. A social worker will also know about them, as will the local office of Age Concern who publish their own booklet. It is surprising [...]
Most doctors, and others working with them in a professional capacity, have a reasonably clear idea about the course of Alzheimer’s disease and use this information when making a diagnosis or advising a family about the future. There is nevertheless a considerable degree of variability in the way in which Alzheimer’s disease alters a person’s [...]
The doctor’s first and most important task is to make sure that there isn’t a treatable cause for the dementia. This may be found in about one person in twenty who develops a dementing illness when he or she is over the age of seventy, and about one person in ten under this age. Discovering [...]